Real or Not Real?
by iWrite95
Summary: A series of one-shots, from alternating points of view, about Katniss and her love life throughout the books. WARNING! MOCKINGJAY SPOILERS!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is just a bunch of little one-shots throughout the books. They'll be mostly from Gale or Peeta's point of view.**

**WARNING! MOCKINGJAY SPOILERS! **

**As stated above, this has Mockingjay spoilers. Personally, that would mean, "OMG! MUST READ!" but for those of you who do not wish to spoil the book, don't read some of these. I'll post a warning like the one above in the Author's Note if the scene is from Mockingjay.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games series. And thank the gods that I don't because if I did they wouldn't be half as good as they are!**

Book: Catching Fire

Scene: When Peeta runs into the force field during the Quarter Quell and his heart stops.

Pages: 278-282

Point of View: Peeta

I reach out with my knife to slash the vines just as Katniss's voice starts, "D—"

But she doesn't finish. There's a zapping sound, and electricity shoots through my veins, throwing me back. I land on a tangle of vines, taking Finnick and Mags with me.

The last thing I see is Katniss's horrified face as my eyelids flutter shut and the world goes black.

xxx

I cough, coming back. It's like the world jump started.

"Peeta?"

Fingers brush hair back from my face, move to the pulse at my neck.

_Katniss._

My eyes open to meet her grey ones.

"Careful," I say, but my voice is weak, "There's a force field up ahead."

She laughs, the sound zinging through me like the electricity had, but I notice wet trials down her cheeks.

I immediately want to comfort her.

"Must be a lot stronger than the one on the Training Center roof," I say, "I'm alright though, just a little shaken."

Instead of comforting her like I wanted, this statement has the opposite effect. Katniss sobs harder.

"You were dead! Your heart stopped!" she bursts out. She claps her hand over her mouth as she starts to make choking sounds. I know she does this when she cries especially hard. I move to envelope her in my arms, and she buries her face in my chest.

"Well, it seems to be working now," I say, "It's alright Katniss."

She nods into my chest, but her sobbing cries don't stop. If anything, they come harder.

Now I'm really worried, not to mention confused, by her actions. "Katniss?"

"It's okay. It's just her hormones."

I look up at Finnick, just as Katniss does. He's glancing between us, his face mirroring my thoughts.

"No. It's not—" Katniss is cut off by another round of perplexing, hysterical sobs. I turn away from Finnick, back to her. But I've seen enough in his face to know that Finnick Odair and I are thinking the same thing:

Does Katniss love me after all?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter 2! WOO! **

**So, WARNING! MOCKINGJAY SPOILERS! THIS ONE-SHOT HAS MOCKINGJAY SPOILERS!**

**Okay, there's the warning I promised if the one-shot were from Mockingjay. If you haven't read the book and you don't want to spoil it, then don't read this. Or, better yet, go read the book!**

_**Book:**__ Mockingjay_

_**Scene:**__ When Gale, Peeta, Katniss, Cressida, and Pollux are in Tigris's hidden cellar and Katniss confesses her "mission" was a fluke.-_

_**Pages:**__ I have this on my nook, and the pages are weird, so forgive me if they're wrong. 234-236_

_**Point of View:**__ Gale_

We're all awake now, staring at each other through the gloom of the woman Tigris's cellar. The wound on my neck is painful, but Katniss's ministrations and the painkiller help some.

Katniss sighs, looking at her hands. Her face is streaked with grime, her loose hair matted with knots. When we had started our original mission, Cressida had told her to take her hair out of its usual braid, as they have with all the propos. She tucks a strand behind her ear and looks up at us.

She forces her lungs to suck in a deep breath, then begins to speak. She explains the entire "mission" for Coin was a fluke. Something she made up. she explains that if it weren't for her, everyone but Boggs and Mitchel would still be alive.

When she's finished, we remain silent for a time.

I'm the one that breaks that silence. "Katniss, we all knew you were lying about Coin sending you to assassinate Snow."

She doesn't buy it. "You knew, maybe. The soldiers from thirteen didn't."

I open my mouth to argue, but Cressida beats me to it. "Do you really think Jackson believed you had orders from Coin?" she asks, "Of course she didn't. But she trusted Boggs and he'd clearly wanted you to go on."

"I never even told Boggs what I planned to do," Katniss says.

I'm getting a little frustrated now. Why does she have to be so noble? "You told everyone in Command! It was one of your conditions for being the Mockingjay!" I say, " '_I kill Snow._'"

Her brow furrows, and she argues, "But not like this. It's been a complete disaster."

I can tell she thinks these two things completely unconnected, and Cressida and I go round and round with her, Pollux adding his ascent to our words. The only one who remains silent is Peeta. Katniss turns to him.

"What do you think, Peeta?" she says. No one else notices, I don't think even Katniss and Peeta notice, but I know Katniss better than anyone, so I do. When she looks at Peeta, her eyes soften a little, her tense muscles relaxing in just the slightest bit. I sigh in defeat.

"I think," Peeta says, "You still have no idea. The effect you can have. None of the people we lost were idiots. They knew what they were doing. They followed you because they believed you really could kill Snow."

I see recognition dawn on Katniss's face. Her hand strays to a pocket on her uniform as she regards the shackled blonde. How can going round and round with me, Cressida, and Pollux for who knows how long have no effect, but on sentence from Peeta make her agree so easily?

That's when it hits me. I guess I always knew, deep down, that it was true.

There was never any choice for Katniss. Consciously there might have been, but subconsciously her choice was made.

She's choosing Peeta, all the way.

She's choosing the one who makes her see things about herself that she can't. The one who was, and most likely still is, prepared to give up his life for hers, the one who is kind, caring, compassionate.

The water to her fire, so to speak.

"Where are we, Cressida?" Katniss asks, dropping her hand from her pocket and pulling out her map with a newfound resolve and determination.

Determination and resolve _he_ gave her.

I glance at the offending person, find him watching her just as she had him earlier: With a soft expression, one that doesn't reflect out situation, but one that's edged with insanity. He's not fully healed, after all. But the fact that he can manage that look after what the Capital did to is a good sign for him.

For Katniss.

But not for me. For me, that look means loss and heartbreak. I tense, waiting for the pain that has nothing to do with the bloody gash in my throat. Strangely, it doesn't come, at least not as intense as I thought. It is there, but it's slight.

I guess I always knew this was coming.

**A/N: It doesn't really give anything away, or change anything. I think Gale had this revelation a long time before this scene. I just thought this scene fit it better, because when you think about it, it is strange the way Katniss acts. I mean, Gale, her best friend, Cressida, her director and friend, and Pollux, her cameraman and friend, go back and forth with her for who knows how long about this. And she doesn't believe them. But then Peeta, who is a recovering basket-case and has tried to kill her more than once, says one thing and she's all compliant. I mean, where is the logic in that?**

**So, yea, rant over. Now, review please! I do really love reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Wow, two updates in one night. I feel accomplished. **

**WARNING! MOCKINGJAY SPOILERS!**

**This one does actually have more spoilers. It focuses on the scene as much as what I think Peet would've done during the scene. So, enjoy! Or, maybe not…**

_**Book: **__Mockingjay_

_**Scene: **__Prim's death (Am I the only one who cried when this happened?)_

_**Pages:**__ I don't know, and, sorry, but I don't feel like looking it up right now._

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

The City Center. That's where I am. I scan the streets, looking for the face I've always looked for when I entered a new place since I was five. Then I spot it, high up on a flag pole and away from the detonating silver parachutes. Thank god.

_What are you thinking? She tried to kill you, more than once, why are you making sure she's okay? Kill her! Kill Katniss Everdeen!_

I tense as the voice I have come to know as Mutt-Peeta screams at me in my head to kill her. Shiny, false images fill my head, and though I know they aren't real, I still have to fight the intense fear they bring on.

_Kill her. Kill her. KILL HER!_

I shut my eyes against Mutt-Peeta. I recall the clear memory of Katniss in the tunnels under the city, giving me food, and smoothing my hair through her fingers as I fell asleep. This is the real Katniss. The girl on fire, the love of my life.

My eyes flash open and travel to her again. Only, she's not there. I search frantically through the crowd. I find her, finally, at the base of the flag pole. Then I see what she's going for. Prim, who is helping the wounded children.

My mouth opens in horror as I realize what will happen next.

"Katniss!" I yell. I clap my hand over my mouth like she had in the tree in our first Hunger Games, but the memory of those Games bring on more shiny memories and Mutt-Peeta is back.

_Peeta, don't. The bombs will kill her. And good riddance._

I tear courses down my cheek and I let out a strangled cry. I can't give in to Mutt-Peeta, and I run through the crowd, trying to get to her, to them both, to pull them back. But, just as I reach Katniss, the remaining parachutes detonate, engulfing the surroundings in flame.

I scream Katniss's name as the flames catch my skin, lighting it ablaze.

**A/N: Wow, kind of depressing...He sounds Schizophrenic (I have no idea why I capitalized that but it makes it look important) what with Mutt-Peeta talking to him, but that's the only way I could think to represent it. 'Cause it's not really Peeta, but it is a part of him. I always like to think that even after the hijacking, the real Peeta, the boy with the bread, is still there, inside, fighting Mutt-Peeta. Plus, I think it'd horribly romantic he really did go after her. **

**Oh my gods, there's this song called Do I by Luke Bryan (its country) that I, for some reason, think fits Katniss and Peeta really well! Here's the chorus:**

_**Do I turn you on when I kiss you, baby?**_

_**Does the sight of me wanting you drive you crazy?**_

_**Do I have your love? Am I still enough?**_

_**Tell me don't I, or tell me do I, baby, give you everything that you've ever wanted?**_

_**Would you rather just turn away and leave me lonely?**_

_**Do I just need to give up and get on with my life?**_

_**Baby, do I?**_

**Am I right? You should go to youtube and listen to it!**

**Review! Pretty please?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I don't have anything to say, really. WARNING! MOCKINGJAY SPOILERS!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or the characters or anything. They belong to Suzanne Collins.**

_**Book: **__Mockingjay_

_**Scene: **__It's set in the cellar, but I made up what happens._

_**Pages: **__None, obviously._

_**Point of View: **__Katniss in the beginning, and Peeta later._

_Katniss Point of View_

I wake up from the nightmare, gasping and sweating. I lay still for a moment, then I shift, sitting up and surveying the cellar around me. I'm curled up against the wall, Peeta a few feet away. Gale, Cressida, and Pollux are asleep on their own piles of fur on the other side of the cellar.

I sit there, quaking from the nightmare. My hand strays to my pocket of its own accord, and I pull Peeta's pearl, the one he gave me during the Quarter Quell, from it. I press it to my lips, seeking the comfort of the boy who gave it to me. I feel it, and my eyes drift close.

"Katniss?"

My eyes shoot open, searching for the speaker. For a minute I wonder if I dreamt it, but, no, he's awake.

Peeta sits up, squinting in my direction.

_Peeta Point of View_

I wake up, disoriented. Another nightmare. This one alternated between Katniss killing me and Katniss dying. I rub my eyes, squinting into the gloom around me. But wait, someone a few feet away is awake also.

Katniss.

She's sitting atop her fur bed, pressing a small round object to her lips, with her eyes closed. As I watch, she sighs a happy sigh.

"Katniss?" I whisper. She freezes and looks up at me, almost guiltily. I see the thing in her hands is a pearl.

My pearl, the pearl I gave her in the Quarter Quell arena.

Her hand drops from her lips and I say, "Is that… Is that the pearl? From the arena?"

She opens her palm, revealing it, and nods sheepishly.

"It…" she starts, dropping her eyes from mine, "It comforts me, when I have a nightmare, like you used to."

That makes me pause. It's not like Katniss to be this open. Mutt-Peeta hasn't attacked once during this confession and I take the opportunity to scoot closer.

Katniss goes on, her eyes now meeting mine. "When I hold it, it feels like you, the real you, not the… mutt version… are here."

She sits there, looking vulnerable and uncomfortable. I move even closer until I'm right next to her. I reach out and feel the pearl in her palm. It's warm from touching her lips.

Katniss looks up at me through her eyelashes. There are tears sparkling on them. One spills over and traces down her cheek. I wipe it away.

"Peeta, I can't do this," she murmurs. The tears are flowing freely now, but her voice is steady. I wrap her in my arms, relaxing immediately at the contact, just as she does. Her tears stain my shirt, but I don't care.

"Katniss, that's not true. You can do this, I know it," I say.

"I can't. At least, not without…"

She leaves the sentence hanging but I got what she meant. Me. She can't do it without me, the real me, not the mutt version. A memory floods into my mind.

_I pushed the locket at Katniss, saying, "No one really needs me."_

_I wasn't really upset about this fact. I had just wanted her to live and have Gale and be happy, but I could see this wasn't going to work the way I wanted it to._

_An understanding look crossed her features. "I do. I need you."_

_I was distressed, and opened my mouth to argue, but she covers it with hers. _

_Katniss kissed me with a hunger and force I had been holding back for a year. Twice I try to pull away to continue my argument and twice she stops me. And the more we kiss, the hungrier her kisses get. I'm in heaven._

The memory has an underlying feeling of fear and anger from the tracker jacker venom, but I hardly notice it. I revisit this particular memory so many times, before and after the hijacking, that I knew it was true.

Katniss grips my shirt, begging me to look at her.

"Don't let him take you away from me," she pleads, "Stay with me."

"Always."

**A/N: I know Katniss seems OOC, but I felt like she needed to let the walls down for once. Especially with Peeta. I think that if she would have done that in the first place, he would have gotten better faster and they'd both be better off in the long run. But that's just me. There'll probably be more like this one, where she lets him in, later on. I have so many ideas swarming through my brain right now, it's a chore to decided which one to write ha. **

**There will be more about HG and CF but I really need to get the Mockingjay one's on paper first. Plus, Mockingjay has so many indirect gestures and feelings and movements from Katniss that the fact she loves Peeta feels more real, so it works better.**


	5. Part 1: Eavesdropping

**A/N: Okay, so I'm going to try to get this right. Don't know how it'll turn out, but I'm trying, so bear with me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games Series. I could not have come up with the idea in a million years and I DEFF could not have come up with Katniss!**

_**Book:**__ Mockingjay_

_**Pages: **__None.._

_**Scene: **__Delly Cartwright is telling Peeta about Katniss as he eats pudding _

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

_**Part 1: Eavesdropping**_

"Peeta you have to believe me," Delly says, clutching a napkin in her fingers, "Katniss is not, nor ever has been, out to kill you!"

I grasp the bowl of pudding I am holding to keep myself from losing it. I can't take this out on Delly, and I want to believe her, but…

"She is," I say, my voice snarky and cold. Delly flinches.

"Peeta, she's not. She saved your life in the arenas, more than once!" she insisted. I shook my head decisively as I fought away the terrifying images that bombarded my brain.

"Delly, can I speak with you?" Haymitch's head pops around the door to my hospital room. Delly shoots me a worried look but follows Haymitch out of the room. I get up, place the pudding on the bed we had been sitting on, and sneak to the door. I press my ear to it, trying to hear what they are saying about me.

"How's he doing?" Haymitch's voice.

"Better, but he still won't believe me about Katniss. He still swears she's out to kill him." Delly.

A muffled groan. Then a thud against the door. Haymitch says, "Katniss is so distraught. She won't show it, I doubt she even realizes it, but she's risking her life because of this. She's in two, fighting with the rebels."

Worry for Katniss squeezes my heart.

_Peeta, she's trying to get you killed! You should be plotting to kill her!_

My face hardens, and I go back to eavesdropping.

"I'm doing all I can, Haymitch. He doesn't believe me!" Delly wails in a whisper, "Maybe if we had some propos to show him…"

Someone's fingers snap a few times. "That video she made during the rescue! The one where she explains how they met, how she's dealing with the separation. We'll leave out the part with Finnick."

I hear shuffling, then the door rattles. I rush back to the bed and pick the bowl up again. I glare at the wall, sitting there like I had never moved.

"Okay, Peeta, there's something Haymitch and I want you to see…" Delly says as she shuts the door. "And please try to be open minded and don't scorn this as lies."

I nod tersely, scowling.

"Right… Here we go…"

**A/N: Okay, so that turned out wayyy different than I planned. Hope it wasn't too bad… But now I'm going to make it be different parts. The next part will be him actually seeing the video and I wanna add a part where Haymitch talks to him alone, so that might be in the next part or a part by itself. Not sure yet. **

**Also, though I have one more idea swimming around in my head after this two-three part story, I am now taking requests. If there's a scene you want elaborated, a scene not added that you want to see, anything, PM me or drop me a review (PM would be better) with the idea and what book it's from and I'll see what I can do. Requested chapters will be dedicated to the person who requested them, too!**


	6. Part 2: The Video

**A/N: I know it's been a while, but school has been eating me alive. But, starting Friday, I'm out for Christmas and hopefully I'll be able to update more. **

_**Book: **__Mockingjay_

_**Pages: **__None_

_**Scene: **__Delly and Haymitch show Peeta the propos from the rescue in an effort to get him to believe them about Katniss_

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

_**Part 2: The Video**_

Delly pops the video into the player in my hospital room, and comes to sit next to me. Haymitch joins us, taking a seat in the recliner in the corner.

"Peeta, please, try to be open minded," Delly says as she prepares to press play, "And remember, this hasn't been tinkered with or edited, you haven't seen it before, and this is real."

I nod tightly, and clutch at the pudding bowl still in my hands. She sighs and presses play.

The screen comes into focus, showing Katniss sitting on a marble pillar. My fingers tighten even more on the pudding as the onslaught of fear crashes down on me. I push it away and try to focus on what's going on in the propo than in my head.

Katniss looks keyed up, jumpy and upset. A flash of compassion shoves its way through the fear.

A voice behind the camera says, "How did you meet Peeta?"

Katniss wavers for a minute, and brushes some hair behind her ear. I find myself fixated on her face, the fear I felt earlier completely ignored.

Katniss opens her mouth and says, "When I met Peeta, I was eleven years old, and I was almost dead."

She goes on to tell about the night I saved her, even though I was punished by my mother. As she talks, the memories begin to resurface, and I know they're true. I absently rub the place my mother hit me after I burned the bread.

"We had never even spoken. The first time I ever talked to Peeta was on the train to the Games," she says. Her eyes have softened a little, and talking about this makes her keyed up look seem calmer.

The voice on the other side of the camera is back. "But he was already in love with you."

Katniss smiles softly. "I guess so."

"How are you doing with the separation?"

The smile falls from her face. My eyes are glued to the screen, desperately wishing I could reach into it and turn the corners of her mouth back into a smile.

"Not well," she murmurs, just loud enough for the cameras to catch, "I know at any moment Snow could kill him. Especially since he warned Thirteen about the bombing. It's a terrible thing to live with. But because of what they're putting him through, I don't have any reservations anymore. About doing whatever it takes to destroy the Capitol. I'm finally free." She looks up to the sky. "President Snow once admitted to me that the Capitol was fragile. At the time, I didn't know what he meant. It was hard to see clearly since I was so afraid. Now I'm not. The Capitol's fragile because it depends on the districts for everything. Food, energy, even the Peacekeepers that police us. If we declare our freedom, the Capitol collapses. President Snow, thanks to you, I'm officially declaring mine today."

I could feel Delly and Haymitch watching me as Delly turned the television off. I just stared at it for a minute. Delly made a move toward me, but Haymitch's voice stopped her.

"Delly, I'd like to speak with him alone for a minute, if you don't mind."

**A/N: Again, so sorry I dropped off the face of the planet. I didn't mean to! But hopefully this will sorta make up for it and the next part, Part 3, will be Haymitch and Peeta one-on-one.**

**Enjoy! (Maybe) and Review!**


	7. Part 3: A Heart to Heart

**A/N: I'm going to go ahead and write this and put it up now so that I don't forget and drop off the planet again.**

**I forgot this on the previous one, so…**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Hunger Games. So, there.**

_**Book: **__Mockingjay_

_**Pages: **__None_

_**Scene: **__Haymitch and Peeta have a one-on-one about Katniss_

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

_**Part 3: A Heart to Heart**_

Delly watches Haymitch in surprise for a minute.

Then she says, "Oh, okay. Well… I'll just… step out, then…"

She leaves, the door thudding behind her. I'm still staring at the television screen, wishing Katniss would come back. The intense fear I usually feel when she's mentioned is curiously absent.

Haymitch leans forward. "So, Peeta, what do you think?"

The snarky expression that had vanished when the propo was playing comes back as I tear my eyes from the screen and rest them on Haymitch. "I don't know. How do I know she wasn't lying?"

And I don't know. I know what she said was true, but how do I know that she wasn't lying when she said she wasn't dealing with our separation well?

Haymitch just regards me calmly. He says, "Peeta. She wasn't lying."

My eyes narrow into a glare, and he glares just as fiercely back at me.

"You don't know that."

Suddenly, Haymitch explodes. He throws his hands in the air, and exclaims, "What is it with you? You were always the more accepting one! Now you're acting exactly like her!

"Do you know what happened to her those first few weeks here? She hid, Peeta! She hid from the world in random little closets and rooms that no one knew about! She was deemed mentally unstable by the doctors because when she found out the Capitol had you, she refused to eat! Do you know what that means? She tried to starve herself! And she attacked my face!" He gestures wildly to his white scarred cheeks. "Katniss did this! When she heard I'd left you in the arena, she lunged across a table to get at me, and had to be sedated to get her off! She was devastated!"

He stops, and I notice small wet tears forming in his eyes. Haymitch takes a deep breath, and continues in a small voice.

"When she saw you in that interview, the one where you warned 13 of the bombing, we were all gathered around the TV. But when she saw it was you they were interviewing, she literally shoved us aside to get to the screen. Then she just stared at it, at you, like you were the most fascinating thing in the world."

His voice trails off into nothing. I stare, transfixed, at him. Katniss did that?

When Haymitch speaks again, his voice is harsh, like before. "Now, I'm going to ask you again. What do you think? Do you think she was lying?"

I don't answer. I know Haymitch wouldn't lie to me about this, but the Tracker Jacker venom and the Hijacking make me automatically want to deny it.

But the same question keeps running through my head: Is the world I've been living in for the past month real? Or not real?


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I know I have a few requests to get to, but I was flipping through Catching Fire and found this. It's short, because it's a short scene, but I couldn't resist. Plus, I needed an update!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games series**

_**Book: **__Catching Fire_

_**Scene: **__When Peeta and Katniss are walking to town and discover Gale's whipping_

_**Pages: **__103-104_

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

I couldn't believe Katniss was seriously thinking about making a run for it. She would never abandon her family and friends, everyone she loves, and if Gale didn't decide to come, then the trip was off.

What did it mean that she was asking me to come, then?

Would she decide to stay behind if I said I wasn't going anywhere?

"Katniss," I say, trying to catch up to her. She scuffs her foot against the ground, kicking at a frozen chunk of dirty snow. "Katniss, hold up." She stopped and I finally caught up. "I really will go, if you want me to. I just think we better talk it through with Haymitch. Make sure we won't be making things worse for everyone."

Suddenly I hear something. A crowd maybe?

"What's that?"

Katniss looks up, listening.

"Come on," I say, my face going hard. I know those sounds. A whipping.

We go to the square, but the crowd's too thick to see. I find a crate against the wall of the sweet shop, and offer Katniss my hand. I scan the crowd as I help her up, but when I see who it is being whipped, I block her way.

It's Gale.

I can't let Katniss see this. I have to stop it, but I have to stop it without her seeing what's going on. If she does, she will try to help him, which will only make it worse. Not to mention the pain she will be in.

"Get down!" I hiss, my voice insistent, "Get out of here!"

"What?" she says, trying to force her way up beside me. my grip on her hand tightens as she begins to pull away from me. Katniss finally manages to yank free of me. She pushes through the crowd, but they try to block her when they recognize her face. I can only close my eyes and wait for the inevitable to happen.

**A/N: Alright! Not as romantic as I had planned. I had planned to get more into Peeta's head, but the scene didn't call for that when I started writing, so oh well.**

**Review, please! **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: So, I know it's been a while. But here's another little scene. **

**Yeah, I've got some news. I've decided to get to twenty chapters of this, then make it complete. I know, that doesn't seem like a lot, but I honestly don't think there's that many of these… And I can always add more if I get a spark!**

**So, this is a request from Peeta-Mellark's-Katniss (I know there are no dashes in your name, but for some reason, if they're not there, the internet just totally gets rid of the word. I have no idea why, but it does.).**

**Disclaimer: I really don't own the Hunger Games. **

_**Book: **__Catching Fire_

_**Scene: **__The beach in the quarter quell arena_

_**Pages: **__350-353_

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

Katniss and I have the first watch. We sit on the sad, the dampness soaking into our clothes. Her right hip and shoulder are pressed against mine. It was a silent plan on my part that I'm watching the jungle. I know Katniss is still haunted by the jabberjays.

After a little while, I feel her head on my shoulder. I reach up to caress her hair.

"Katniss," I whisper softly, "it's no use pretending we don't know what the other is trying to do."

I know she won't like discussing this. But this is the perfect opportunity to use my token. We're away from the prying eyes of all the other tributes, and for a while we can ignore the cameras surely trained on us.

"I don't know what kind of deal you think you've made with Haymitch, but you should know he made me promises as well. So I think we can assume he was lying to one of us," I go on. I have a feeling Haymitch was lying to me, and only told me what he did so I wouldn't get suspicious. But I meant what I told him. I'm getting Katniss out of here alive if it kills me.

My words have the desired effect on her. She looks up into my eyes. "Why are you saying this now?"

_Because now I'm planning on essentially blackmailing you to get what I want. Which is you to go home alive._ "Because I don't want you forgetting how different our circumstances are. If you die, and I live, there's no life for me at all back in District Twelve." That's true. She is my life. "You're my whole life. I would never be happy again." She tries to interject, but I stop her by putting ym fingers to her lips. "It's different for you. I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard." I have to work to keep the pain out of my voice. Katniss would mourn for a while, but she would eventually get over me. If it took that much effort at all. "But there are other people who'd make your life worth living."

I tug the chain with my token from my neck and hold it up so she can see it clearly in the moonlight. I hit the catch with my thumb and it pops open. The inside reveals pictures of Gale, her mother, and Prim.

I feel low for hitting her with this. But combined with what she heard from the jabberjays this afternoon, this is the perfect weapon to use right now. And I can see in her eyes she knows exactly what I'm doing.

"Your family needs you, Katniss," I tell her.

I watch the emotions flit across her face. Pain. Realization. Her eyes widen as she stares at the pictures, realizing what I'm giving her. I don't mention the baby, a signal that this has nothing to do with the Games, and everything to do with us.

I watch her eyes as I say what I've known since our first Games. "No one really needs me."

A deep rooted pain surfaces in her grey eyes. She looks like she could cry, but she doesn't. Damn. I can tell my plan is not working at all like I had hoped.

"I do," she says, "I need you."

Well. That was unexpected. I knew she cared about me of course, but I didn't think it was the same way. But with the way she's been reacting to things lately, I'm starting to second guess. At first I just chalked it up to nerves and stress, but this confession throws me into a tail spin all over again.

I take a deep breath to begin a long tirade. I _have_ to convince her that she doesn't. She _has_ to live.

The moment I open my mouth, Katniss stops it with hers. Her lips are hungry and wanting, and I try to pull away three times. She stops me each time, her lips harder and more demanding with each kiss. After that I gave up and just kissed her back. I want this every time I see her, and I'm going to die soon, so why not enjoy it while it lasts?

It's only when the lightning bolt hits the tree at midnight that we come to our senses. It also wakes Finnick. He sits up, crying out. I know the look in his eyes. Nightmares.

"I can't sleep anymore. One of you should rest," he says to us. I can see his eyes roam over us, no doubt taking in the mussed hair, the swollen lips, but he doesn't comment more than, "Or both of you. I can watch alone."

No. I can't let him do that. "It's too dangerous. I'm not tired." Especially not after _that_. "You lie down, Katniss."

I walk with her over to the others. Before she lays down, I put the chain around her neck, and rest my hand on her stomach. Where our baby would be, if it existed.

"You're going to make a great mother, you know."

**A/N: So? I feel like I wasn't as spot on as usual. And now I'm thinking of doing one about what Finnick and Peeta talk about when Katniss goes to sleep. What do you guys think?**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Wooh! Twice in two days! I'm feeling good, especially after I haven't updated in forever.**

_**Book: **__Catching Fire_

_**Scene: **__After the beach scene. I Imagine Peeta and Finnick talked_

_**Pages: **__None. Technically, this only exists in my head._

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

I sat next to Finnick, watching the trees like I had been before. We are quiet until Finnick says, "What were you and Katniss doing?"

I feel my cheeks heat up a little. No one has ever asked either of us that question even though we're supposed to be madly in love. I don't know how to react.

"Uh… Nothing."

Finnick chuckles. "Sure, Peeta. But I didn't mean _that_. I meant what were you talking about that made her kiss you like that?"

I sigh. Finnick's too observant for our own good. Nothing get's past him.

"I tried to convince her she had to live through this," I tell him, studying the sand. "I tried to tell her that no one would really miss me if I died, but she has a family that's dependent on her. I'm dependent on her. If she dies, I'll have nothing to live for."

Finnick stares out over the water. He seems to be thinking about my words. Finally, he says, "What'd she say?"

I trace my finger randomly in the sand, not really paying attention to what I'm doodling. "She got this anguished look in her eyes, then she said, "I do. I need you." Then she kissed me. Finnick, she's never kissed me like that before. It was like she was hungry and couldn't get enough, and the more we kissed, the harder we tried to consume each other."

Finnick raises an eyebrow at my word usage. I shove him a little. "Not like that. Have you ever felt like the more you get of something, the more you have to have of it?"

He nods. "I imagine that's how people with addictions feel."

"Like the morphlings," I say, "That's how this kiss felt." I grip my blond hair, eyes closing in pain and confusion. I whisper, "I didn't think she loved me. I thought it was an act. It _was_ an act. But the way she's been acting lately, the force field, that kiss… I don't know what to think anymore, Finnick."

Finnick pats me sympathetically on the shoulder. We lapse back into silence.

His voice breaks the silence. "I've been watching you both for a while now, Peeta. And the way she watches you, the way she looks at you, the way she reacts when things happen to you… It all makes me think she's really in love with you."

I open my mouth to point out that she has to do that for the cameras. But he holds up a hand to stop me and continues. "No. Let me finish. She does it when there're no cameras around, too. She did it during training, the carriage ride through the capital. I was teasing her before we started, and she barely paid me any attention. Because she was watching you. Even if she doesn't know it yet, I truly think she loves you, Peeta."

I take this in for a while. Did Katniss love me? Maybe. My chest filled with hope, but I didn't let it get out of hand. No sense being crushed again when it turned out not to be true.

"Maybe you're right."

**A/N: So? What'd'ya think? **

**Next will be… Yeah, I don't know. I made a mental list last night of all the scenes I wanted to do but… I can't remember any of them now. So, it'll be a surprise for all of us!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Sorry for the over-month-long update. School hates me. I'm on Sring break right now, though.**

_**Book: **__Mockingjay_

_**Scene: **__When Gale and Peeta talk in Tigris's cellar type thing_

_**Pages: **__238-239_

_**Point of View: **__Gale_

**Another request from Peeta-Mellarks-Katniss! Hope you enjoy! I wasn't exactly sure what you meant by "when Gale and Peeta talk" but then I remembered this.**** I hope it's the right one, though I don't remember any other scenes of them talking…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games. I don't think I could be that depressing.**

_Why am I doing this? _I think as I hand Peeta the cup of water. _Oh, yeah, for __**her**__._

"Thanks for the water," Peeta tells me, taking the cup with his free hand. He takes a shaky sip.

"No problem," I tell him. I might grumble, but I really have a lot to thank him for, namely Katniss, and it really wasn't a problem. "I wake up ten times a night anyway."

A knowing look comes into his blue eyes. "To make sure Katniss is still here?" His face says he understands the sentiment.

"Something like that."

Peeta looks away from me, occasionally taking drinks of the water. When the cup is empty, he sets it back down. Then he raises his wrist, a silent askance to shackle the arm up again.

I don't understand this. He's obviously stable enough to have coherent conversations without trying to kill her; the shackles seem a little extreme. But yet, I think they make both of us sleep better at night.

"That was funny, what Tigris said," Peeta says when I've finished, "About no one knowing what to do with her."

"Well, _we_ never have," I say, my voice a bit dry. We laugh, and I think, if circumstances were different, maybe we could have been friends. But they aren't, and because of him I might lose Katniss forever. And even though I don't completely hate Peeta, there will always be that little part of me that loathes him with reckless abandon.

"She loves you, you know," Peeta tells me. He's watching me carefully, almost like he's reading my mind. "She as good as told me after they whipped you."

I shake my head ruefully, wishing he were right. "Don't believe it. The way she kissed you in the Quarter Quell… well, she's never kissed me like that."

"It was just part of the show," Peeta says, though he sounds a bit doubtful. His eyes take on a faraway look for a minute and I get the feeling his thoughts are echoing my sentiment. Then he shakes his head. I can almost see the words going through his mind: _I won't let the hope that he's right get out of hand. No sense being crushed again when it turns out not to be true._

I imagine he told himself that on a daily basis. I used to.

Maybe that's why I find myself saying, "No, you won her over. Gave up everything for her. Maybe that's the only way to convince her you love her." I pause, wondering if I would have been in his place, had I volunteered for him their first Games. "I should have volunteered to take your place in the first Games. Protected her then."

"You couldn't," he tells me, "She'd never have forgiven you. You had to take care of her family. They matter to her more than her life."

I smile derisively. "Well, it won't be an issue much longer. I think it's unlikely all three of us will be alive at the end of the war. And if we are, I guess it's Katniss's problem. Who to choose," I yawn expansively. "We should get some sleep."

"Yeah." He slides the handcuffs down the support, trying to get comfortable. I shake my head at him, still wondering about the necessity of those. "I wonder how she'll make up her mind."

Now that is a question I can answer easily.

"Oh, that I do know. Katniss will pick whoever she thinks she can't live without."

Because to Katniss, everything is about survival.

**A/N: So? It doesn't feel as up to snuff as the others. But I like it. **

**I imagine that Gale feels a sort of camaraderie with Peeta, who also knows what it's like to deal with Katniss and has been affected by this war like he has. **

**Plus, they're on a mission together, and Peeta is the only boy around his age. Finnick's dead by this time (*cries*) and it probably comes down to a"If you were put into a room with older people of your gender and younger people of your gender, which group would you choose?" kinda thing.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Another update! Has anyone else noticed I usually have two updates within a few days of each other, and then I seem to drop off the face of the Earth?**

**Anyway…**

_**Book: **__Hunger Games_

_**Scene: **__Katniss and Peeta's first kiss!_

_**Pages: **__183-184_

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

**Disclaimer: Hmm… Let me check my wallet… Nope, still empty. Must mean I don't own the Hunger Games, after all!**

I watch Katniss try to make a blind to cover the cave entrance. She finishes, stands back to examine her work, then growls in frustration and tears it down.

"Katniss," I say in an effort to distract her. She immediately abandons the blind and comes to me, her soft fingers brushing the hair from my eyes. "Thanks for finding me."

I feel as if I'm going to burn from the inside out, yet I'm freezing cold. I see fear spark in her grey eyes as she says, "You would have found me if you could."

"Yes," I say, because it's true. The only thing that kept me from finding her anyway was this injury and the fact that I didn't want to have to be the one to kill her. "Look, if I don't make it back—"

She cuts me off, the fear in her eyes flaring. "Don't talk like that. I didn't drain all that puss for nothing."

I don't laugh at her feeble joke, instead, I try again, "I know. But just in case I don't—"

"No, Peeta." She refuses to let me finish a sentence. "I don't even want to discuss it." As a reinforcement to her statement, she places her fingers on my lips. The places they touch burn, and I can't tell if its from the fever or because its Katniss touching me.

"But I—"

This time, she interrupts me with her lips. Its not my first kiss. There was one time, at a party in town in District Twelve, where a girl kissed me. But it is my first with Katniss, the only kiss I've ever wanted, and all I can think about is how cool her lips feel.

When she pulls away, my mouth tingles. I want to touch my lips with my fingertips, but I don't.

"You're not going to die," she says, pulling the sleeping bag around me, "I forbid it. All right?"

As if I would contradict her after that. "All right."

She gets up, stepping outside of the cave for a minute. Only then to I reach up to feel my lips and allow them to stretch into a wide smile.

**A/N: As always, review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm back from my fall off the face of the Earth!**

**Not much to say. Except I broke my laptop back in April, around my last update, and I only just got a new one. So technically, my laptop fell off the face of the Earth, not me.**

**Disclaimer: My face lift didn't work out, so I am currently suing the doctor and I can't do impersonations of Suzanne Collins. (Darn!) Sorry, folks!**

_**Book: **__The Hunger Games_

_**Scene: **__The Reaping_

_**Pages: **__19-21_

_**Point of View: **__Peeta_

"I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!"

No.

I know that voice.

_Please no. Not her._

But it is her. Katniss Everdeen is pushing her little sister behind her. My eyes go wide, my heart beat picks up, and I start to panic.

No. No. No, no, no.

I vaguely hear them talking, but I can't make sense of what they're saying. There's a buzzing sound in my ears.

Katniss was now climbing the steps of the stage. Haymitch came forward, slurring something at her. She grimaced, and he took a nose dive off the stage.

People laughed, but I didn't even crack a smile.

I had to volunteer for the boy tribute. I had to protect her.

Effie Trinket, who looked happy to finally have some drama during a Reaping, was turning the boy's ball.

She puts her hand in, and I steel myself to volunteer for whoever it is. I gulp, straining to hear over the buzzing still sounding in my ears.

"Peeta Mellark!"

_Well, _I think as I make my own way to the stage, _At least now I don't have to volunteer._

**A/N: Soooo? **

**Sorry for being gone so long. I'll try to be quicker next time.**

**And I'll try not to break my laptop. *grins sheepishly***

**As always, review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I know this was a really long time coming, and I'm sorry. But I REALLY like this one!**

_**Book: **__Mockingjay_

_**Scene: **__Peeta and Katniss's first kiss after the hijacking. Just after FInnick's death (*tear*)_

_**Pages:**__ 313-314_

_**Point of View:**__ Peeta_

**Disclaimer: I couldn't even take depressants and be this depressing. I mean, really.**

_Kill her. Kill her. Killherkillherkillher._

Mutt Peeta pounds against my skull, ordering me to kill her. Kill her. Kill her.

_No, I can't..._

My breath starts to come faster.

_Nononono. I won't kill her. I love her._

_Yes. Kill. Kill. Kill._

"Peeta."

Oh, God. That's her voice. I clutched at my hair, gritting my teeth.

Her fingers close around my wrists. "Peeta?"

I let her pull my hands away. Show her my eyes.

_KillKillKill._

_NoNoNo._

"Leave me," I whisper. "I can't hang on."

"Yes, you can!" she says, leaning in.

No. Don't lean in. Please.

_Kill her now!_

_NO._

I shake my head, trying to clear it. "I'm losing it. I'll go mad. Like them."

Then she does something that surprises both of us.

She leans in and kisses me, hard, on the mouth.

The minute our lips meet, Mutt Peeta is banished from my mind and my cuffed hands reach up to cup her face. Her hands move up to twine her fingers with mine.

All I can think is _Katniss, I love you. I love you. ILoveYou._

She pulls away. "Don't let him take you from me."

Without her mouth on mine, Mutt Peeta is back.

_Kill. Love. Kill. Love. KillLoveKillLoveKillLove._

"No, I don't want to…"

_KillLoveKillLoveKillLOVEKILL_

"Stay with me."

_LOVE. LOVELOVELOVE._

"Always."

**A/N: So, yeah. I really like this. Do you?**

**Oh, I found a song for Peeta after the hijacking: My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. I know its sung by a woman, but it works! One of the verses says, "Once more, you've opened the door, and you're here in my heart and my heart will go on…"**

**See, cause after the hijacking, he saw her for who she really was, instead of perfect but he begins to remember he fell for her. And they always have a possibility of dying. **

**And yes, the song is from the Titanic. I saw that the other day and I cried. It's so sad, yet Jack and Rose are soooo sweet. My favorite part is when she jumps off the life boat and they run and meet each other and Jack's like "You're so stupid, Rose! Why'd you do that? You're so stupid!" yet he's kissing her all over and hugging her and stuff. SO sweet.**

**Anyway, review. And another one should be coming sometime this weekend!**


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